To Hunt, and To Be Hunted
by SadisticBeauty30
Summary: "I will have you one day princess, i can wait an eternity. But how long can you wait?" Dracula will stop at nothing to have her.  The left hand of God will stop at nothing to protect her. Longer summary inside! R&R - Van Helsing/Anna & Dracula/Anna
1. The Devil Incarnate

Anna walked through the armory in search of Van Helsing. She was furious with him. How dare he work up the nerve to knock her out cold! Whether or not it was for her own good, he had no right to take such liberties. No, he would pay for that. And to think that I had any trust in him after his deed in town this afternoon! I groan in disgust at my naivety. _Well, that won't happen again. Break my trust once; don't count on getting it back. _

"Van Helsing?" I called out only to receive no response… where the hell was he? He had hell to pay once she found him that was for sure. Fury at this man in short blinded her. She could not contain her anger. He waltzes into _her_ town and tries to tell _her_ what to do! She would not stand for it, not the princess of the gypsies.

"Hello princess… something troubling you?" Oh God no, she knew that voice. She knew it all to well. Count Vladislaus Dragulia. Dracula, in her home. Nothing good could come of this. In a brief moment he was at her side, his cold hands on her hips. The shock of him at her side caused her to drop her lantern and the flame went out, leaving them in darkness.

"Such a beautiful woman have you become, would be a perfect bride." I winced as his cold as stone lips brushed my collarbone.

"What are you doing here? Van Helsing will kill you if he finds you, you stand no chance anymore count. I will defeat you." I knew my voice was much less than convincing. But I couldn't help it, I was frightened of him. I despised him with all my being. His lips graze my shoulder and I involuntarily shudder, and he does not mistake it for the cold of the armory. He knows exactly what he does. His icy blue eyes then meet mine and I try so hard to push away from him. But my muscles will not let me move, besides the fact that he holds me in my place next to him.

"My my princess, I thought higher of you! Finding joy in the touch of the undead that your family worked so hard to kill!" he laughs and I feel at a loss for words. I am overwhelmed with the sense of fear and abandonment. I needed Velken. I needed his protection, now more than ever.

"I could never find joy in you Count. You have destroyed everything, taken everything from me!" I scream into his face and spit directly in the eye. How I despised him! But the only reaction I get from him is a grin, and his sinister laugh.  
>"I will have you princess, all in due time. I can wait for all eternity, but how long can you wait?" he slurs his words and stares me in the eyes. For a split second, I am in complete shock.<br>"I hope your heart beats Count, for one day I promise you, I will drive a stake directly through it."  
>"Now now, we all know that will do nothing to me! You have a head on your shoulders Anna; I would use it if I were you. This isn't even a fight for me, I could erase your line right at this very moment if I wished it… but I will continue this little game with you. Quite frankly I enjoy seducing you." And with that he was gone. He had the speed beyond all human understandings. I stared in shock at the window he had exited through. My head was spinning out of control; the only thing I had left for myself was to kill him. And I was more determined to do it than ever before. I walk down the hall further into the armory to gather weapons. I would go after him tonight, with or without the monster hunter. This must end. As I reached for the nearest pistol I felt something cold and wet drop to my face. Water? I turn slowly, what in God's name? And as I turn I am face to face with a werewolf. I fire, surely I hit it! But as I check the revolver a shocking realization hits me. They were in fact not silver bullets. <em>Oh Lord, please no. <em>I slowly turn the corner, stealthily trying to avoid the werewolf lurking somewhere unknown in the dark shadows. As I turn the corner my heart stops with shock as I run into my very brother!  
>"Velken?" I mostly question to myself, "Oh my God! Your alive!" my hand finds its way to his cheek and he covers it with his own warm hand.<br>"No! Anna! I only have a moment! Dracula- he has a-a- " No, please God don't have it be what it appears! "Anna! Run! Run!" his last words form as a scream and he is then backing up to the stone wall, shredding away his very own humanity. Why had God forsaken him? How could I save him? For sure I would not be able to bring myself to kill my very own brother!  
>"No…" the tears fall freely down my face and I cannot catch my breath. My heart races as I see the brother I loved so dearly completely transformed, glaring at me with yellow satanic eyes, filled with bloodlust. The person I loved so dearly, eager to kill his own sister. I close my eyes and wait for the pain to come. If I died, I would die here and now at the hands of my brother. But before I get the chance a voice breaks through the sharp pain in my heart.<br>"Anna!" I hear him yell. It was Van Helsing. Surely he must have heard the anguished cries of my brother and has come to stop him from harming me. But the only way he could do that was by killing him… My eyes spring open as I stare at the beast in front of me, still to shocked to move I watch the scene play out. Van Helsing pulls out his revolver, ready to shoot but my brother, fast as he is, is able to avoid the shots that would soon be blown. He jumps through the glass window to the right of me and he's gone. My brain cannot function. I had just seen him transform in front of my eyes, into the very thing that was supposed to be killed. My brother was a werewolf.  
>"Anna, are you alright? Anna!" I can hear the shouts of Van Helsing and his hand on my shoulder, but I am still lost in myself staring out after where my brother had left the castle. Van Helsing takes off, running towards the door of the armory. And I know that he is after my brother, and will stop at nothing to kill him. I spring to life and follow after him but only after grabbing my own revolver and pocket knife. I would not let him harm my brother.<p> 


	2. Losing Faith

** Note: HELLO AGAIN! Yes, i have updated oh so very quickly. I hope you are proud :) I would like to thank my reviewers! Thanks so much! Claps for you all! And a special thanks to Hell Harpie for being such a help in writing! Check out the stories written by that fantastic author. You won't regret it! ANYWAY, ok so i don't know if i like the turnout of this chap. but eh, what to do right? FYI; yes. i know i changed up a bit of the dialogue well, _i meant too do that._ I hope that this turned out alright and please R&R! Tell me what i'm doing right/wrong i will take it all! If there are any grammatical errors i am sincerly sorry. I write my chaps quite late at night and i know i probably made some mistakes! Without further ado, on with the story:**

I mount my horse and set off into the dark Transylvanian night. I follow the tracks of my brother, and the tracks of Van Helsing's mare. I kick my horse into a sprint, as to not be late reaching my beloved brother and the man that would surely kill him.

Not far off I hear a scream, a man's scream. I kick my horse to push forward and reach the grave yard, and I see who had formed the horrid screech into the dark night. The grave digger, he was dead. Could my brother really have done this? I look up from the grave he had coincidently landed in and see Van Helsing pull out his revolver and aim it towards the sky. Towards Velken, who was crawling up the side of the stone building. I run as fast as I can manage towards him and push Van Helsing's arm down before he could squeeze the trigger and release the bullet that would surely end my brother's life. I look on to where Velken had successfully coasted down the other side of the building to safety. I look with triumph only to be forcefully taken back by somebody's hands around my neck taking my breath away. It was Van Helsing.  
>"Your-choking-me!" I manage to escape my mouth.<br>"Give me a reason not to!"  
>"I can't! If people-knew..." he growls and releases his hold on my neck and I bring my fingers up to brush the spot he had so violently tarnished.<br>"He's not your brother anymore Anna!" he barks at me,  
>"You knew?" I sound exasperated as I try to catch my breath<br>"Yes" he states ever so clearly. He knew it was Velken? And yet he still tried to kill him!  
>"Before or after I stopped you from shooting him..?" I interrogate him,<br>"Before" he turns to look at me then, for he knows that I will not let this pass by easily  
>"And still you tried to kill him! How could you?"<br>"He's going to kill people!" he raises his voice to meet mine  
>"He can't help it it's not his fault!" I push him violently in defense of my brother who would never hurt a soul, but I was not so sure anymore, deep down, I knew Van Helsing was right. He would bring harm.<br>"I know! But he will do it anyway Anna!"  
>"Do you understand forgiveness?"<br>"Yes, I offer it often" his gaze on me softens, and I mentally kick myself for being so harsh with him. But then again, how could I not?  
>"They say Dracula has a cure, and I'm going after it, whether you accompany me or not! I despise Dracula more than you could ever imagine, he has taken everything from me. He has left me alone in the world! You may not understand that Mr. Van Helsing, but family means something to me. Not that it would to you. Instead you spend your time killing!" I yell furiously at him and just after I finish and my breath is oh so visible in the night air, I regret what had left my mouth. I see his eyes close, and his brusque persona seems broken.<br>"I do not expect you to completely understand what I do Anna, although I believed you would have some understanding, you clearly do not. I do not kill innocent beings. And it is not of my choice the curse that I live, for if I had my own free will I sure as hell would not be spending my days like this. And as for family, you are correct. I don't understand exactly how it feels to lose somebody you have loved. But I am not here to tarnish your relationship with your loved ones. I am here to protect you, and to vanquish the evil that lurks here." He looks at me intently, and even though he is trying so desperately to not show that my words have hurt him, I can tell that they have.  
>"I'm sorry Mr. Van Helsing, I did not mean to-" he cuts me off with a lift of his hand,<br>"Shall we go?" he questions me and I stare back at him in confusion  
>"Where too?"<br>"To find your brother. If you believe you can save him, we will try. But Anna, I can only devout this one night entirely to his being. Then I will be solely after Dracula. With, or without your help although you being on my side would most definitely greater our odds against him." I nod and walk to retrieve my horse as he mounts his. I follow him in pursuit as he sets off a bit ahead of me in the forest, I feel as though I should keep my distance from him after my sudden outburst earlier. I see him stop his horse and jump swiftly off to pick up something on the ground. So, I do as he did and check to see what has caught his attention. I pull my horse behind me and see what has caught his eye. The fur of a werewolf. Of course! Velken was here!  
>"Werewolves only shed before their first full moon, before the curse has completely consumed them." I inform him. He takes his horse by the reins and we walk deeper into the forest. We walk in silence and truthfully the silence between us had gotten very uncomfortable.<br>"So why do you do this? This job of yours, what do you have to get out of it?" I look at him intently, hoping for an answer. I needed this man on my side, that I knew.  
>"I don't know, maybe some self realization." He seems to not be very concerned on making conversation, but I question on anyway. For some reason, I was drawn to knowing this man. Perhaps it would better our chances of defeating Dracula, if we were on better terms.<br>"And what have you gotten out of it so far?" I look to him once more and this time he turns to face me, his brown eyes bore into my own.  
>"Nightmares" Is all he states and it leaves a bone chilling shiver down my spine at the raw honesty in his response. He pushes forward through the snow and I take a moment to recollect myself and follow after him, his dark silhouette scarcely visible in the dark night. We push on to a clearing that leads us to Castle Frankenstein. I had not been here for months.<br>"What is this place?"  
>"Castle Frankenstein," I reply "but I don't understand, it should be abandoned. The man who lived here was killed a year ago. Grave robber- among other things." I add smugly.<br>"A year ago? It was just after that your father went missing."  
>"Yes, he was on his way to the sea," I hear him absent mindedly grunt "I have never been to the sea. I'll bet it's beautiful." What was I saying? I regretted my childish remark as soon as I let it go.<p>

We walked cautiously to the entrance of Castle Frankenstein. I wasn't sure how the night would turn out. Either positive or the complete opposite. All I was focused on was setting out and finding my brother. I needed to save him from the beast that held him captive. As we step inside the castle I know something is terribly wrong. Obviously, the fact that Dracula was in the vicinity was a problem. But what I felt now, was something much sinister.  
>"Dwergi!" I whisper as urgently as I can to Van Helsing and press him up against the closest wall, which would protect our view from Dracula's servants.<br>"Dwergi?" he whispers back with equal force,  
>"Yes, Dracula's servants, industrious but <em>extremely<em> viscous. If you get a chance to kill one, do it. Because they will do worse to you." I inform him of Dracula's servants and the viscous behavior they have against any intruder. There once was an incident with a villager that had wandered off one night to Castle Frankenstein. He was found the next day in the town square, his face ripped to shreds and his body cut apart and stitched back together. Surely not the work of a vampire or werewolf, it was the work of the Dwergi. And we knew that if we ever had the chance to eliminate them, that's what we would do. I listen in on their muffled conversation in Romanian, and recollect news on my brother.  
>"They say they are using my brother in some sort of experiment! There is still hope!" I turn to leave and expect him to be right on my heels but he pulls me back to stand in front of him.<br>"Anna, there is no hope for your brother. But we can still protect others by killing Dracula." I was pained to hear this. To hear that he had no hope in the fact that I could save my own kin. No, I think, I will make him believe that I agree and I will do as he says. I will still find my brother though, I will find a way. Before I can even form a response he grabs me by the coat and drags me into a nearby hall of the Castle, occupying the area is the foulest stench I had ever encountered. Hanging from the ceiling were oval shaped eggs. I had never seen a thing like it.  
>"Do you know what these things are?" Van Helsing's sudden question breaks the train of thought I have on my surroundings suddenly.<br>"No, what do you think they are?" Really, I wanted to know what they could possibly be,  
>"Offspring" he replies so monotony that it honestly shocks me to think that these could be the offspring of Dracula, my mind buzzes around me as I try to grasp the thought of it.<br>"What?" sure I had heard what he said, but it didn't stop me from asking him for further closure on the subject.  
>"A man with three gorgeous women for four hundred years" he smugly replies,<br>"Yes… vampires are the walking dead. It only makes sense their children are born dead."  
>"He's obviously trying to bring them to life." I look around the room filled with the undead children in disgust.<br>"Ladies first!" he beckons to me and I reply sarcastically staring back at him and cocking my head, wresting my hands defiantly on my hips. And with that, he walks ahead into the unborn children of the devil. He walks ahead of me into a clearing encircled with the pouches.  
>"Dracula and his brides only kill one or two people a month, but I he brings all these things to life-"he doesn't even need to finish his sentence. I nod absent mindedly and look around me. When I turn back to him I see that he has approached an egg and is eyeing it suspiciously.<br>"What are you doing?"  
>"I'm going to see what were up against." And he sinks his gloved hand into the pouch, creating an oozing sensation from deep inside the sack. He pulls out remnants of the sack and finally the faintest view of the beast occupying the pouch is visible. As he slowly inserts his hand into the egg the vampire offspring springs to life, with a wailing scream forcing us both to jump back, and a slight shriek escapes my throat. At that, eggs surrounding us also begin to burst and more of the offspring are released and fly sporadically around the hall.<br>"This is where I come in!" Van Helsing informs me as he jumps into the open, shooting down as many of the offspring as he can manage. I take this as my chance to sneak off in search of my brother. A twinge of guilt comes over me at the thought of leaving him to defend himself against the young vampires. But I push it aside and climb a stone stair case nearby just before the debris from the ceiling come crashing down just on my heels.

I find myself in what seems to be the main laboratory Dracula has been occupying. I see his servants below, working endlessly on creating his children.  
>"The human is insufficient!" Is all I can make out of Dracula's right hand man. Human? Velken? It must be Velken he was speaking of! And as a bolt of lightning flashes above me I am entranced with the view of my brother, on the roof above me, being electrocuted. I jump forward onto a dangling rope in hopes of climbing and reaching to him. After a few brief minutes of fighting off Dracula's Dwergi beneath me I am finally able to pull myself up.<br>"Velken!" I reach him and stroke his cheek with my gloved hand. I had found my brother!  
>"Anna? No! You must not! No, no!" he frantically squirms as much as he can on the board he is strapped down to, preventing my from getting him free.<br>"Velken, it's alright I'm going to take you home!" and as I try to soothe him his hand breaks loose of the straps and wraps itself around my mouth, and surely he could crush every bone in my jaw. Would my brother kill me? I wretch myself away from him and back away as fast as possible, sliding down the metal ladder nearest to me, I back away my eyes still watching the scene above me. My brother was transforming into his wolf form. And this time, he could not be saved. As I watch in utter despair a pair of strong hands grabs my shoulders from behind and twists me around to face the owner. Dracula? No, Van Helsing!  
>"I think we've overstayed our welcome!" and he grabs me by the hand, pulling me up a ledge. As we reach the top he pulls out his pistol, obviously created by his wise partner from the order. He shoots across the river that falls below us and reaches a tree across the gap. The wire that he had shot across looks sturdy enough. Hell, it was the only hope we had of getting out of here. He grabs me from around the waist and I look towards him and wrap my arms around him, ready to take the leap of faith. I close my eyes and he jumps, and we are making our way to the other side. But then, it all goes horribly, horribly wrong. My brother jumps onto our cable, the weight causing it to snap. I let out a gasp and I know that we must be about to fall to our death. I clutch to the hunter in fear and my stomach drops as we plummet. But I realize we have stopped falling downwards, and we are now making our way to the ledge, where ultimately we may find safety from the castle at our backs. We land entwined with each other, gasping heavily at the shock and impact of making it to the other side. I look up and see him nod at me. I shake my head back and look back to the ground. I was hopeless. My brother was beyond saving now. Even I knew that.<p> 


End file.
